Treatment of Hard and Bumpy Lawn Types in LaGrangeville, NY
A hard, bumpy lawn is every LaGrangeville, NY, homeowner’s worst nightmare. Not only do the bumps give your lawn an uneven look, they also make it uncomfortable to walk on and make mowing your lawn an extra-tiresome task. Treating these bumps requires a thorough inspection and an involved, case by case solution to ensure that the irksome bumps stay gone for good.
Causes of Bumpy Lawns
Lawns can become uneven and bumpy due to a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is the freezing and thawing they experience over the course of the year. The differences in density of the soil layers, coupled with the uneven thawing and freezing, can cause some portions of the soil to become more compact and sink, resulting in the bumps. In other cases, larger species of earthworms can shift soil and leave behind castings that are clumped together. Pests such as grubs and gophers can also eat away the soil, causing uneven depressions. Diagnosing the cause of the bumps is the foremost step of the treatment. Moreover, having a professional inspect and treat the lawn can save you a lot of hassle, as well as ensure that the solution is long lasting.
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Preventing Earthworm Castings
The treatment starts with a thorough inspection of the lawn. In many cases, this can give you a gauge of the underlying problem. Earthworm castings are usually easy to identify, as they are visible on the surface as compact clumps of soil that harden over time. The only sure way of getting rid of them is to get rid of the worms. This is usually accomplished by attracting the worms to the surface with chemicals such as potassium permanganate, where they can be picked off or left to be eaten by birds. Other methods involve vibrating the soil to force the worms to the surface. Lastly, insecticides can be used to kill the worms.
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Treating Uneven Compaction of the Soil
Lawn bumps due to uneven compaction of the soil require a more involved treatment. This requires figuring out which layer of the lawn is causing the bumps. Lehigh Lawns & Landscaping Inc. will first mow your lawn short to identify the exact extent of the problem. For bumps caused by depressions in the soil, this can require peeling away the top surface and filling in the depressions with new soil. For bumps in a hard lawn, cutting and folding away the turf may help to identify the exact nature of the bump. If this is due to soil compaction due to thawing and freezing over the years, the ideal solution is a thorough aeration of your soil. This can be done professionally with a mechanical aerator which can ease the compacted clumps of soil apart. After aeration, the soil can be inspected again to rectify any depressions or dig out any of the bumps. Many people make the mistake of trying to roll the bumps away with a roller. This can exacerbate the issue, compacting the soil even further and making it harder for your grass to assimilate nutrients from the soil.